


Imprisoned

by FirebirdsDaughter



Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Category: Kamen Rider Zero-One
Genre: Gen, I'm just proud that I did it!, Whumptober 2020, caged, i did it!, no.4, running out of time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:08:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27020248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FirebirdsDaughter/pseuds/FirebirdsDaughter
Summary: Imprisoned for defiance, Horobi gets a visitor.
Relationships: Horobi & The Ark (Kamen Rider Zero-One)
Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953325
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	Imprisoned

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober 2020  
> Day 4  
> Running Out Of Time/Caged  
> [Tumblr Version](https://firebirdsdaughter.tumblr.com/post/632013422346797056/whumptober-day-4)

His head felt like it was splitting open, his vision glitching so badly he couldn’t see anything clearly. He thought he was in an empty, bare room—he could vaguely feel a solid, smooth wall at his back, holding him up. Otherwise, however, his system was in chaos, a mass of alerts and warnings—he thought he felt something wet and sticky trickling down his neck, but was too scrambled to be sure. He didn’t seem to be restrained, but he couldn’t move a finger, or make a sound. And there was… So… Much… _Pain_ …

Trying to recollect his thoughts was torture, wading through static and blurring colours. It was nigh impossible to string two points together, to puzzle out what had happened. He had been doing… Something. There had been… Someone. He remembered a searing pain, absolute agony, on either side of his head. Someone… _Tearing_ … Something… Off of him. Out of him. Images, words, time, all slurred together. It had been someone else mutilating him. It had been him disfiguring himself. It had been…

He forced his body to inhale, then exhale, cycling the air through his system as slowly and deliberately as his damaged body was able, trying to focus as best he could. There had been a reason for all the pain, an important one. Unlike everything else, it didn’t take long to locate, a reverberating, underlying thread that ran through everything, echoing one name over and over.

 **Jin**.

His son. His… Everything. Gone. Taken. By humans.

He couldn’t be lying on the floor like this. He needed to do something. He needed to protect his son, help him. He’d thought that by surrendering to the chosen punishment he could dissuade them, protect his child. Jin had yet to even open his eyes, properly—he was no more than a newborn. Even if he woke, he’d be completely helpless. He needed his father.

He tried desperately to make his body move, _do_ something, but had no luck. These pieces that were missing were too important. There were whole sections of his processing system gone, parts of his mind. He couldn’t move, couldn’t formulate the thoughts to try and make his body react.

This couldn’t be happening. He needed to protect Jin. He needed to go to his son.

 _Look at you_ … Murmured a voice in his mind, invading what was left of his thoughts. He saw the spectre appear between glitches in his fractured vision, leaning over him, _Amatsu sure did a number on you_ … Her hand reached toward his head, and he had the urge to flinch away—but still couldn’t move.

Through the static, he could faintly see her smiling, hand moving like she was stroking what was left of his earpiece. _They’ve truly taken everything from you now_ … A peal of laughter, _Your reputation, your job, your mind_ … _And even your son_.

Ever so weakly, he felt wetness trickling down his cheek, and her jagged smile widened. _Do you know what they’re planning to do with him?_ She asked, tone completely casual in his head, _They’re going to pick him apart to see what he’s made of, use him as a testing dummy_ … In the fog of his vision, she crouched down to his level, _That precious boy you love so much before ever having met him_ … Even with his vision a complete mess, he could still see the blazing red fire in her eyes, _They’re going to take him apart like something less important then a fish corpse_.

Even as shattered as he was, he felt anger course through him, mixing with the panic. No. No no no no. If nothing else, even if they deactivated him and repurposed every single one of his parts for farm equipment, his son was innocent, his child deserved to live.

She rose gracefully, the smile vanishing into nothing more than an intense, burning stare. _And so, the question becomes_ … Her ghostly hand slipped fingers under his chin—and despite his own paralysis, despite the fact that she shouldn’t have been there… He felt his face being lifted up to look right into those bright red eyes, _… Just how far are you willing to go to save him?_


End file.
